Shim for railway-ties.



W. W. WILLARD.

SHIM FOB; RAILWAY TIES.

APPLICATION 211.1211 AUG. 1, 1911.

1, 2 ,37 Patented May 14, 1912.

' WIT SSES: INVENTOR Wm QTfiwuLAnl WILL W. WILLARD, OF SAGINAW,MICHIGAN.

SHIIVI FOR RAILWAY-TIES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August7, 1911.

Patented May 14., 1912. Serial No. 642,661.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILL WV. WILLARD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Saginaw, in the county of Saginaw and State of Michigan,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shims forRailway-Ties; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention pertains to railway ties and relates more particularly toan im-' proved means for shimming up a rail to take up the clearancebetween the top of the tie (or the top of the tie plate, if a tie plateis used) and the bottom of the rail flange.

The improvement relates more particularly to such a shim adapted to betaken out in the summer time when the ties are usually tamped up totheir original position.

In practice it has been found that continued vibration of the rail andweather conditions, as for instance frost in the winter time, causes thetie to heave, forming a clearance between the bottom of the rail flangeand the top of the tie or the tie plate, frequently resulting infracture of the rail. It is necessary in .such cases to insert avtemporary removable shim between the flange and the tie plate to take upthis clearance until such time as the track can be retamped. The commonpractice heretofore has been to insert, lengthwise of the rail andbetween the rail flange and tie plate, a shim made of a narrow board,the width of the shim being less than the width of the rail flange,depending upon the frictional contact between t-he rail, the shim, andthe tie, to hold the shim in place. It has been found in practice,however, that such a shim cannot be depended upon to remain in place,especially if it is inserted, as is usually the case, at a time when therail and tie are frosty. The frost lubricates the shim, and railvibration works it out lengthwise of the rail, so that constantattention is required to keep the shims in place during cold weather.Another defect of the shims above described arises from the fact thatthey must, of necessity, be narrower than the rail flange, else theycould not be inserted between the spikes at the sides of the flange. Theuse of shims narrower than the rail flange resulted in supporting therail unevenly, there by imparting to the rail a dangerous tendency torock or tip.

It is the purpose of my present invention to provide a shim that iscapable of being quickly inserted between the rail and the tie plate.and easily removed therefrom, and having means whereby it can be heldin place by the ordinary rail spikes to prevent the shim creeping orworking out from between the rail and tie plate. The fastening device,while extremely simple, admits of the shim being used under rails ofvarious widths without cutting or making any changes in the shim.

A further object of my invention is to provide a shim that will alwaysafford a bearing the full width of the rail flange, thereby preventingany tendency of the rail to tip or rock.

With these and certain other objects in view which will appear later inthe specification, my invention consists in the devices and theequivalents thereof, to be described and claimed.

In the drawings forming a part of the specification, Figure 1 representsparts of two ties with a rail thereon and the shim in position; Fig. 2shows the same parts with the shim about to be inserted between the railflange and the tie plate; Fig. 3 is an end view of the shim; Fig. 4 isacrosssectional view of a log from which the shim may be cut in the formof veneer; and Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the shim.

As is clearly shown in the drawings, the device consists in a shim 1comprising a substantially rectangular board and provided with twonotches 2 and 3 along one of its edges. One of the notches, as 2, ispreferably deeper than the other. The purpose of making one of thenotches deeper than the other is to enable the shim to be used on railsof different sizes and of different width of flange, as for instance, onan 80 pound rail and on a 100 pound rail.

In practice the inner spike is first removed, after which the shim isinserted in the clearance space'between the bottom of the rail flangeand the top of the tie plate, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, and ispushed through until the end of the shim brings up against the shank ofthe opposite spike, or against the opposite shoulder of the tie plate,as the case may be; the tie plate and rail are then spiked in place, thespike passing through one of the notches, as 2.

The purpose of the notches in the shim is to prevent the shim fromworking outeither lengthwise the rail, or transversely thereof. 7

My improved shim affords a bearing the full width of the rail flange.The shims are made" of different thicknesses to suit differ ent amountsof clearance between the rail flange and the tie plate.

It is to be noted that the essential function of my improved shim is notthat of rep-airing or filling in a worn or depressed spot in the top ofa worn tie as a repair to the tie, but is for the purpose of temp0-rarily taking up the clearance between the rail and the tie plate andfor preventing the shim from working out of its place.

While I have shown and described the device as used in connection with atie plate, it is obvious that it is equally applicable to ties having notie plate, providing the top of the tie is smooth and has not been wornby the rail so as to form a depres- 51011.

If it happens that the' top of the tie has been worn or depressed, theshim'can be used in the same manner as with the flat tie after the topof the tie has been adzed down on the inside of the rail to form a flatsurface to receive the shim in the same j manner as a new flat toppedtie would receive 1t.

In practice I prefer to form the shim of veneer, as indicated at 4 inFig. 4, the shim being formed by cutting from the log circumferentially.The purpose of this method of manufacturing the shim is to provide ashim that will have the smallest possible tendency to check or crack. Inpractice I prefer to insert the shim in such a direction that its grainwill run at right angles to the length of the rail, thus reducing to theminimum the possibility of splitting. By forming the shim of veneer, asabove indicated, and thereby reducing the tendency to split, it is foundthat the shim has sufficient strength to resist all tendency to split atthe notches 2 or 3 and that it will remain in position indefinitely,being held by the railway spike against all tendency to work out.

By the means above described I have produced an extremely simple shimthat can be manufactured at very small cost, that will not readily checkor break, and that will remain under all ordinary conditions firmlylocked by means of the spike between the rail and the tie or the tieplate, as the case may be.

. Having claim and ent, is

1. As an article of manufacture, a shim for filling the clearance spacebetween a railway tie and rail, comprising a substantially rectangularwooden body portion of a thickness to substantially fill the space between the top of the tie and the rail flange, said shim having one ofits edges provided with a spike-receiving notch, the width of said notchbeing of substantially the width of a spike, the distance from. the endof said notch to the opposite edge of the shim being substantially equalto thewidth of the rail flange.

2. As an article of man ufacture, a shim for filling the clearance spacebetween a railway tie and rail, comprising a substantially rectangularwooden body portion. of a thick ness to substantially fill. the spacebetween the top of the tie and the rail flange and provided with aplurality of spikemeceiving notches along one of its edges, said notchesbeing of unequal length and of a width substantially equal to the widthof a spike, each notch extending inwardly from said edge, the distancefrom the end of each notch to the opposite edge of the shim beingsubstantially equal to the width of a corresponding rail flange.

3. As an article of manufacture, a shim for filling the clearancebetween a railway tie and rail, comprising a wooden body portion, thegrain of which extends transversely thereof, said body portion being ofa thickness to substantially fill the space between the top of the tieand the rail flange and of a width greater than the width of the railflange, to form a spiking portion at one side of said flange, saidspiking portion being provided with a plurality of spike-receivingnotches of unequal length, each of said notches being of substantiallythe width of a spike extending inwardly from one end of the body portionof the shim, the distance from the end of each notch to the opposite endof the shim being substantially equal to'the width of a correspondingrail flange.

4. As an article of manufacture, a shim for filling the clearancebetween a railway tie and rail, comprising a body portion formed ofVeneer, the grain of which extends transversely thereof, said bodyportion being of a thickness to substantially fill the space between thetop of the tie and the rail flange and of a width greater than the widthof the rail flange, said spiking portion being provided with a pluralityof spike-receiving notches of unequal length In testimony whereof, Iaflix my signaan(% of substantially Cthe width of a spiki ture inpresence of two witnesses.

an extendin inwar 1y from the sides 0 the body portion of the shim, thedistance WILL WILLARD H from the end of each notch to the oppositeWitnesses:

edge of the shim being substantially equal CHRISTINE A. BRAIDEL,

to the Width of a corresponding rail flange. G120. W. SMITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. O.

